BT's powered parachute

[BILL T]

I blew the dust of the PP chutes from all winter and went flying with a friend - I'm in the purple one. As we fly from a cow field please excuse my nasty shoes as there are a lot of "pies" out there

[BILL T]

Here's a shot of the 'chute - can anyone tell me how to put this on a site where you wouldn't have to sign in, etc so the other people at Medicine Shoppe could see it?

[BILL T]

Here's a pic of Rob flying "Ilene"

[BILL T]

Here's a pic straight and level, trimmed relaxing. As close as I can tell you it's a lot like being in a lawn chair flying about 400 ft above the ground at about 30mph. The air cools at roughly 3 degrees per thousand feet so when it's REALLY hot you can climb until the air temp is comfortable. I've been to about 10k feet but the real fun is low and slow.

[tbcz]

Awesome pics Bill. That looks like fun, unless you're acrophobic.

BTW, it's easy to set up an online photo album for all to see at Yahoo...check here: http://photos.yahoo.com/. You just have to register a screen name if you don't already have one on Yahoo (doesn't cost anything), then they let you post up to 30 MB of pictures. Then it's simply a link (http://photos.yahoo.com/yourname) for people to see your pictures.

[BILL T]

Thanks! TBCZ - I'll give it a try

[rouxeny]

Wow, that looks awesome, definitely something I want to try. I'd love to learn to fly, but the costs are prohibitive.


Looks like a lot of fun.

[2003z]

I would love to try that someday!

[NSANY]

Does the FAA govern that type of flight?

[BILL T]

No license is required as it is classed as an ultralight. Not only can you fly the powered parachutes but there are fixed wing craft as well in the ultralight class. The trouble with the fixed wing craft is the sun damages the fabric so you need a hanger. The local airport didn't much care for ultralights so I never got a hanger though I applied for one. So I needed something I could fold up. My first ultralight was sort of a hang glider wing instead of the parachute though the bottom power unit was about the same. That lasted about 3 minutes as I lacked the training flying something where the wing is mounted on a pivot. (Training for this type of craft was unavailable in my area though I received
fix wing training) A very nice bone doc screwed me back together
and though I broke my back, right arm, right leg, some ribs, now I'm almost good as new. Lesson learned is don't go flying unless you learn how with that specific type of craft.
Which brings me back to the powered parachute. They are almost idiot proof and really don't require piloting skills. This seemed to be more my type of thing. You give it power you go up - let off you come down. You turn by pushing foot bars. The max rate of decent is 10 ft/sec so even with power gone is won't crash. Unless you run into a power line of something you won't kill yourself like I almost did. Whereas a fixed wing ultralight requires about 10 hours dual training the powerchute you can learn in minutes. The bad news is they only fly about 30mph so they're not much good for going distances - just leisure flyin' which is a lot of fun by itself.

[AuburnZ]

Bill,
You are instilling much confidence in me to try this. ;)

[BILL T]

It's easy, enjoyable, and relatively safe. There's an instructor near 'most everyone at www.powerchutes.com that'll take you up. It really gets the adrenalin going.

[BILL T]

OMG!! I have seen the light - Bll T. in a Viper

[BILL T]

This car war VERY fast though the sound was rather wimpy. Nontheless this car is VERY fast and th 21 year old driver scarred the bejesus out of me:

[BILL T]

Just so you can share my misery - shortly after the last pic I dropped my dig cam and had to send it away $176.00 (ouch).
My duck (if you've been following the story) is hanging out with a flock of those hoodlum Canada geese and won't come home.
My Jeep blew a head gasket due to a slight overheating and a son that runs it until it just won't run anymore instead of parking it and calling his dad. It needs a radiator as well as the pressure blew that out. And the car is 100 miles away so I can't fix it myself - it's now at some repair shop probably named "Arm and a Leg" or "Bend Over".
And then there's my wife's flight through Orbitz - it was due to leave Norfolk at 6:30AM. Orbitz e:mailed me at 3:45AM saying the flight from Norfolk to Washington had been cancelled HOWEVER the flight from Washington to California was "On Time"
Well Whopee!! (She got to where she was going but it took a while longer) There...I fell better now

[AuburnZ]

BillT,
Sounds like your duck is learning some bad habits. You need to ground him!:D

[BILL T]

'Haven't seen duck for about a week now - can they mate with a goose??
Good news - I had the Jeep trucked to my house and fixed it this weekend. A new radiator, 2 fouled plugs, thermostat, head sealer in a can (this same stuff saved my '85Z).
Bad news - Sony called me - the Mavica dig cam is beyond repair
so I ordered new. I'm really hooked on the mini-CD storage as I can take lots of worthless pic's and post them here. A single CD holds lots of pics and only cost about a buck each at Radio Shack.

[AuburnZ]

I don't know if a duck and goose can mate, but I would think not. I don't know of a name for the cross animal which is why I think not.

[BILL T]

Anybody want Doose or Guckling?

[Boomer]

Calling DR BONZ, Bill T is at it again. A lobotomy may be in order here. Don't delay, this is serious.

[BILL T]

'Drove the old Jeep Wrangler to work today - I'd forgotten how much fun a convertable can be though I cheated and just took the sides off. If ever a vehicle screamed "Take me to the beach"
the Jeep did this sunny and cool morning. No A/C, flapping top,
bouncy ride yet this thing was total fun. There's something about
a convertable that you just cannot get in a hard top even with the windows down - maybe it's the smells - today it was fresh corn ripening. To bad I'm allergic to corn as except for the giant phlem ball chocking off my air supply it would have been a heck of a nice ride.

[BILL T]

This guy tried to race me this weekend - I handed him his ***** in my much faster Z:

[BILL T]

We had the annual deer vs. steam roller competition this weekend - here's the winner by a nose: